The poem "Daddy" by Sylvia Plath has to do with change. How the main character seems angry at her father who passed away when she was 10, also how she tried to replace him, in essence recreate her "Daddy". The author uses very strong imagery and commanding allusions to portray these two men and the emotions she feels towards them.
At first glance, the poem seems very angry. In the first stanza the main character compares herself to a foot and her father too a black shoe. This is a powerful image that leads one to believe that her father was very commanding, a symbol of authority in hereyes, also she compares herself to a Jew and her father to a Nazi (lines 30-35), this is astrong allusion which personifies the hate she has for her father and her references too Dachau, Auschwitz, Belsen (line 33) is how she felt trapped, detached from the world.
Sylvia Plath
23 Fitzroy Road, London : The house where Sylvia P...
Diane MiddlebrookThough all these things emphasizes hatred, the reader feels a sense of sadness, regret through the beginning of the poem. The main character isn't upset at something her fatherdid but more at him leaving her at such a young age, she feels detached, incomplete. In fact, she compared her father to God (line 8) or in the twelfth stanza briefly discussesher attempted suicide "At twenty I tried to die/And get back, back, back to you", thisdoes not sound like an action someone would do in order to get closer to anotherindividual if they hated them. These allusions demonstrate the strong admiration andconnection she felt for her father and how she didn't really want to let go of him (line 6)"I had to kill you", not that she wanted to "kill him" but that she had to in order to moveon. The main target for her...